Surgical robot system for stereotactic surgery and method for controlling stereotactic surgery robot

ABSTRACT

A surgical robot system for stereotactic surgery, according to the present disclosure, may include: a stereotactic surgery unit to move and rotate a surgical instrument; a controller to receive the first imaging data that represents a three-dimensional image of a surgical portion that includes a surgical target; one or more markers to be attached to, or disposed near, the surgical portion; an imaging unit to create the second imaging data that represents a three-dimensional external image of the surgical portion; and a tracking unit to track the positions and postures of the imaging unit and the markers. The controller may create the coordinate conversion relationships for converting a coordinate from the first coordinate system of the first imaging data into the fourth coordinate system of the stereotactic surgery unit and control the stereotactic surgery unit by using the coordinate conversion relationships above.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority from Korean Patent ApplicationNo. 10-2016-0103717 filed on Aug. 16, 2016, the entire subject matter ofwhich is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a surgical robot system forstereotactic surgery, and further relates to a method for controlling astereotactic surgery robot.

The present disclosure is derived from research conducted as a part ofthe Robot Industry Fusion Core Technology Development Project of theMinistry of Trade, Industry and Energy. [Project No. 10062800, ProjectTitle: Development of Practical Technology of Medical Imaging basedBrain Surgery Robot System through Clinical Trial]

BACKGROUND ART

Various stereotactic surgery instruments have been known. For example,Leksell Frame is used as a manual stereotactic surgery instrument forbrain surgery. Leksell Frame has a structure in which a user is able tomanually move the stereotactic surgery instrument along X, Y, and Z-axesand is able to rotate the same such that the position of thestereotactic surgery instrument corresponds to the position of anaffected portion. However, in the case of using such a manualstereotactic surgery instrument, since the user should read gradationson the Leksell Frame with the naked eye to then determine and move theposition of the surgery instrument, it tends to cause an error betweenthe position of the affected portion and the surgery instrument.

Therefore, a technology for utilizing a robot for the stereotacticsurgery has been introduced in order to improve the accuracy ofpositioning the surgical instrument. The stereotactic surgery robot isimplemented with a robot arm that includes a driving arm assembly,wherein the robot arm is coupled to a fixed base and includes aplurality of arms that are connected in series. The position of thesurgical instrument that is attached to the serial type of robot arm andthe surgical accuracy thereof may be affected by all axes of the robotarm with a degree of freedom. That is, when an error occurs in theoperation by using one axis of the robot arm, the error is added toanother error that occurs in the operation by using another axis so thatthe errors caused by all axes are accumulated to then affect thesurgical accuracy. In this case, when an operational error occurs at thedriving end that is installed on the base, the error is added to otheroperational errors of a plurality of robot arms that are connected tothe base so that the error is further amplified as it goes to the end ofthe robot arm. Therefore, in order to improve the surgical accuracy, itis preferable to set the distance between the base to which the robotarm is fixed and the affected portion to be short. However, if thedistance between the base of the robot arm and the affected portion isshortened, the inertia of the robot arm becomes small. Therefore, anerror tends to occur, and thus, it is difficult to make precise controlof the robot arm. In addition, since a space between the base of therobot arm and the affected portion becomes small, the operating range ofthe robot arm may be reduced. In addition, in the case where the robotarm fixed to the base is disposed around the affected portion, there maybe a risk that the user may collide with the robot arm when the usermoves around the affected portion so that the movement of the user maybe disrupted.

Meanwhile, the position of a surgical target and the entry position (orentry) of the surgical instrument should be specified for stereotacticsurgery. In the case of brain surgery or nerve surgery, if the entryposition of a surgical instrument is not properly set, the surgicalinstrument may come into contact with critical portions of the brain ornerves prior to approaching a surgical target in order to thereby putthe patient in unnecessary danger. However, the conventionalstereotactic surgery instrument is controlled in a state in which themovement of the surgical instrument according to the position of asurgical target is not independently separated from the movement of thesurgical instrument according to the entry position of a surgicalinstrument. Therefore, if an error occurs between the actual position ofthe surgical instrument and the position of the surgical instrument,which is recognized by the stereotactic surgery robot system, thecontrol of the surgical instrument for correcting the error may becomplicated.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a surgical robot for stereotacticsurgery, which can improve the accuracy of stereotactic surgery and cansecure the convenience of a surgical posture of the patient.

The present disclosure provides a method for controlling a stereotacticsurgery robot, which can reduce a control error of the stereotacticsurgery robot and can easily correct an error that has occurred.

The present disclosure provides a surgical robot for stereotacticsurgery and a method for controlling a stereotactic surgery robot, whichcan reduce the complexity of the operation control of the surgicalinstrument by independently executing the operation control of thesurgical instrument according to the position of a surgical target andthe operation control of the surgical instrument according to the entryposition of a surgical instrument.

The present disclosure provides a surgical robot system and a method forcontrolling a stereotactic surgery robot, which can easily control thestereotactic surgery robot based on the image of a surgical target,which is displayed on a user interface.

A surgical robot system for stereotactic surgery according to anembodiment of the present disclosure includes: a stereotactic surgeryunit that is configured to move and rotate a surgical instrument at 5degrees of freedom or more; a controller that is configured to receivefirst imaging data that represents a three-dimensional image of asurgical portion that includes a surgical target; one or more markersthat are configured to be attached to, or disposed near, the surgicalportion; an imaging unit that is configured to create second imagingdata that represents a three-dimensional external image of the surgicalportion; and a tracking unit that is configured to track a position anda posture of the imaging unit and the markers, wherein the controllermay be configured to: create a first coordinate conversion relationshipfor converting a coordinate from a first coordinate system of the firstimaging data into a second coordinate system of the second imaging data;create a second coordinate conversion relationship for converting acoordinate from the first coordinate system into a third coordinatesystem of the one or more markers and a third coordinate conversionrelationship for converting a coordinate from the third coordinatesystem into a fourth coordinate system of the stereotactic surgery unitby using the first coordinate conversion relationship and the positionsand the postures of the imaging unit and the one or more markers; andcontrol the stereotactic surgery unit by using the second coordinateconversion relationship and the third coordinate conversionrelationship.

According to an embodiment, the controller: visualizes the first imagingdata through a user interface; and converts a position of the surgicaltarget and an entry position of the surgical instrument, which are inputby a user through the user interface, into coordinates on the firstcoordinate system.

According to an embodiment, the controller converts the convertedcoordinates on the first coordinate system into coordinates on thefourth coordinate system of the stereotactic surgery unit by using thesecond coordinate conversion relationship and the third coordinateconversion relationship.

According to an embodiment, the stereotactic surgery unit includes: arotating unit that is configured to have the surgical instrumentattached thereto and is configured to rotate the surgical instrument onat least one of two rotational axes; and a moving unit that isconfigured to move the rotating unit in a direction of at least one ofthree axes, and the controller may: determine an entry posture of thesurgical instrument based on the converted coordinates on the fourthcoordinate system; move the rotating unit through the moving unit suchthat a coordinate corresponding to the position of the surgical targeton the fourth coordinate system is positioned at an intersectional pointof the two rotational axes; and rotate the surgical instrument throughthe rotating unit such that the surgical instrument has the determinedentry posture of the surgical instrument.

According to an embodiment, the moving unit include: a first directiondriving unit that is configured to move along a first axial direction; asecond direction driving unit that is configured to move along a secondaxial direction while being connected to the first direction drivingunit; and a third direction driving unit that is configured to movealong a third axial direction while being connected to the seconddirection driving unit, and the rotating unit includes: a firstrotational driving unit that is configured to include one end that isconnected to the third direction driving unit and is configured torotate on a first rotational axis; and a second rotational driving unitthat is configured to include one end that is connected to the firstdirection driving unit and is configured to rotate on a secondrotational axis. In addition, the surgical instrument may be attached tothe second rotational driving unit.

According to an embodiment, the controller: creates a fourth coordinateconversion relationship for converting a coordinate from the secondcoordinate system into a fifth coordinate system of the imaging unit anda fifth coordinate conversion relationship for converting a coordinatefrom the fifth coordinate system into the third coordinate system basedon the position and the posture of the imaging unit; and creates thesecond coordinate conversion relationship based on the first coordinateconversion relationship, the fourth coordinate conversion relationship,and the fifth coordinate conversion relationship.

According to an embodiment, the controller creates the first coordinateconversion relationship through an image registration between thethree-dimensional image represented by the first imaging data and thethree-dimensional image represented by the second imaging data.

According to an embodiment, the controller performs the imageregistration by using at least some of the surgical portion that iscommonly included in the three-dimensional image represented by thefirst imaging data and the three-dimensional image represented by thesecond imaging data.

According to an embodiment, the controller: extracts two-dimensionalimaging data that represents a two-dimensional sectional image of thesurgical portion from the first imaging data; and controls thestereotactic surgery unit by using a coordinate conversion relationshipfor converting a coordinate of a sixth coordinate system of thetwo-dimensional imaging data into the first coordinate system, thesecond coordinate conversion relationship, and the third coordinateconversion relationship.

According to an embodiment, the imaging unit creates the second imagingdata by using a Phase Measuring Profilometry.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a method forcontrolling a stereotactic surgery unit that moves and rotates asurgical instrument at 5 degrees of freedom or more in a surgical robotsystem for stereotactic surgery includes: receiving, by a controller,first imaging data that represents a three-dimensional image of asurgical portion that includes a surgical target; creating, by animaging unit, second imaging data that represents a three-dimensionalexternal image of the surgical portion; tracking, by a tracking unit, aposition and a posture of the imaging unit and one or more markers thatare attached to, or disposed near, the surgical portion; creating, bythe controller, a first coordinate conversion relationship forconverting a coordinate from a first coordinate system of the firstimaging data into a second coordinate system of the second imaging data;creating, by the controller, a second coordinate conversion relationshipfor converting a coordinate from the first coordinate system into athird coordinate system of the one or more markers and a thirdcoordinate conversion relationship for converting a coordinate from thethird coordinate system into a fourth coordinate system of thestereotactic surgery unit by using the first coordinate conversionrelationship and the positions and the postures of the imaging unit andthe one or more markers; and controlling, by the controller, thestereotactic surgery unit by using the second coordinate conversionrelationship and the third coordinate conversion relationship.

According to an embodiment, the method for controlling the stereotacticsurgery unit further includes: visualizing, by the controller, the firstimaging data through a user interface; and converting, by thecontroller, a position of the surgical target and an entry position ofthe surgical instrument, which are input by a user through the userinterface, into coordinates on the first coordinate system.

According to an embodiment, the operation of controlling thestereotactic surgery unit includes converting, by the controllerconvert, the converted coordinates on the first coordinate system intocoordinates on the fourth coordinate system of the stereotactic surgeryunit by using the second coordinate conversion relationship and thethird coordinate conversion relationship.

According to an embodiment, the stereotactic surgery unit includes: arotating unit that is configured to have the surgical instrumentattached thereto and is configured to rotate the surgical instrument onat least one of two rotational axes; and a moving unit that isconfigured to move the rotating unit in a direction of at least one ofthree axes, and the operation of controlling the stereotactic surgeryunit includes: determining, by the controller, an entry posture of thesurgical instrument based on the converted coordinates on the fourthcoordinate system; moving, by the controller, the rotating unit throughthe moving unit such that a coordinate corresponding to the position ofthe surgical target on the fourth coordinate system is positioned at anintersectional point of the two rotational axes; and rotating, by thecontroller, the surgical instrument through the rotating unit such thatthe surgical instrument has the determined entry posture of the surgicalinstrument.

According to an embodiment, the operation of creating, by thecontroller, the second coordinate conversion relationship includes:creating, by the controller, a fourth coordinate conversion relationshipfor converting a coordinate from the second coordinate system into afifth coordinate system of the imaging unit and a fifth coordinateconversion relationship for converting a coordinate from the fifthcoordinate system into the third coordinate system based on the positionand the posture of the imaging unit; and creating, by the controller,the second coordinate conversion relationship based on the firstcoordinate conversion relationship, the fourth coordinate conversionrelationship, and the fifth coordinate conversion relationship.

According to an embodiment, the operation of creating, by thecontroller, the first coordinate conversion relationship includescreating, by the controller, the first coordinate conversionrelationship through an image registration between the three-dimensionalimage represented by the first imaging data and the three-dimensionalimaging data represented by the second imaging data.

According to an embodiment, the controller may perform the imageregistration by using at least some of the surgical portion that iscommonly included in the three-dimensional image represented by thefirst imaging data and the three-dimensional imaging data represented bythe second imaging data.

A computer-readable recording medium according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure may store a program that includes instructions forexecuting the operations of the methods for controlling the stereotacticsurgery unit.

According to the surgical robot for stereotactic surgery and the methodfor controlling a stereotactic surgery robot of the present disclosure,the stereotactic surgery robot can be independently controlled accordingto the position of a surgical target and the entry position of asurgical instrument in order to thereby improve the surgical accuracyand in order to thereby simplify the control method. The surgical robotcan be disposed close to the affected portion of the patient so that thepatient's convenience and the operator's workability can be improved andso that a control error can be reduced.

In addition, according to the surgical robot system including thestereotactic surgery robot of the present disclosure, a surgeon cansimply control the stereotactic surgery robot through a user interface,and even if the patient moves during the surgery, it is possible toreset a coordinate conversion relationship for controlling the surgicalrobot within a short time.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features, and advantages of the present disclosurewill be more apparent from the following detailed description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view showing an example in which a surgical robot system isused for surgery, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a surgical robot system, according toan embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a stereotactic surgery robot,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a moving unit, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a rotating unit, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an operation portion support unit,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a patient fixing unit, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a stereotactic surgery robot to which apatient fixing unit is coupled, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a marker and a tracking unit toexplain the operation of the tracking unit, according to an embodimentof the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is a view showing a result of the image registration between animage around the entry position of a surgical instrument, which isobtained through a imaging unit, and an image of a patient, whichcontains a surgical portion that is photographed prior to surgery,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a view in which the position of a surgical target and theentry position of a surgical instrument are displayed on thethree-dimensional image of the patient, which contains a surgicalportion that is photographed prior to surgery, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a view to explain a method for converting the position of asurgical target and the entry position of a surgical instrument, whichare displayed on the three-dimensional image or the two-dimensionalsectional image of the three-dimensional image that contains a surgicalportion, into the positions on the coordinate system of a stereotacticsurgery unit, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a view to explain a method for converting a coordinate fromthe coordinate system of imaging data representing a three-dimensionalimage that contains a surgical portion into the coordinate system of apatient marker, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a view in which a user displays the position of a surgicaltarget and the entry position of a surgical instrument in thetwo-dimensional sectional image on the axial plane of thethree-dimensional image of the patient, which contains a surgicalportion that is photographed prior to surgery, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a view in which a user displays the position of a surgicaltarget and the entry position of a surgical instrument in thetwo-dimensional and sectional image on the sagittal plane of thethree-dimensional image of the patient, which contains a surgicalportion that is photographed prior to surgery, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 is a view in which a user displays the position of a surgicaltarget and the entry position of a surgical instrument in thetwo-dimensional and sectional image on the coronal plane of thethree-dimensional image of the patient, which contains a surgicalportion that is photographed prior to surgery, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a method for controlling a stereotacticsurgery unit, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing a method for creating a coordinateconversion relationship for converting a coordinate from the coordinatesystem of imaging data representing the three-dimensional image thatcontains a surgical portion into the coordinate system of a patientmarker, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing a method for controlling a stereotacticsurgery unit by using a coordinate conversion relationship forconverting a coordinate from the coordinate system of imaging datarepresenting a three-dimensional image that contains a surgical portioninto the coordinate system of a stereotactic surgery unit, according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure, which will be described below,are only examples that are illustrated for the purpose of explaining thepresent disclosure. The embodiments of the present disclosure may beconducted in various manners, and the present disclosure is notconstrued to be limited to the embodiments described below or to thedetailed description of the embodiments.

The term “unit” that is used in the present embodiments refers to asoftware element and a hardware element, such as FPGA(field-programmable gate array) or ASIC (application specific integratedcircuit). However, the “unit” is not limited to hardware and software.The “unit” may be configured to be in a storage medium that can beaddressed, and may be configured to reproduce one or more processors.Accordingly, as an example, the “unit” includes elements, such assoftware elements, object-oriented software elements, class elements, ortask elements, processors, functions, attributes, procedures,subroutines, program code segments, drivers, firmware, micro-codes,circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, andvariables. Functions that are provided in the elements and “unit” may becombined into fewer elements and “units,” or may be further divided intoadditional elements and “units.”

All the technical terms and scientific terms that are used in thepresent specification have the meanings that are commonly understood bythose of ordinary skill in the art unless otherwise defined. All termsthat are used in the present specification are selected for the purposeof describing embodiments of the present disclosure more clearly, andare not selected to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

The singular expressions that are described in the present specificationmay encompass plural expressions unless otherwise stated, and this willalso be applied to the singular expressions shown in the claims.

The expressions, such as “first” or “second,” which are used in variousembodiments of the present disclosure, are used to separate a pluralityof elements from each other, and are not intended to limit an order orimportance of the corresponding elements.

The expressions, such as “include” or “have,” which are used in thepresent specification, should be understood as open-ended terms thatimply the possibility of including other embodiments unless particularlyotherwise stated in the phrase or sentence that contains thecorresponding expressions.

In the present specification, the expression “based on” will be used todescribe one or more factors that affect the behavior or operation ofthe decision or determination that is described in the phrase thatcontains the corresponding expression, and does not exclude additionalfactors that affect the behavior or operation of the decision ordetermination.

In the present specification, the description that one element is“connected,” or “coupled,” to the other element should be understoodthat one element may be directly connected, or coupled, to the otherelement, and should be further understood that another new element maybe interposed between one element and the other element.

Hereinafter, the embodiments of the present disclosure will be describedin detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The samereference numeral will be used for the same element throughout thedrawings, and a duplicate description of the same element will beomitted.

<Stereotactic Surgery Robot System>

FIG. 1 shows an example in which a surgical robot system is used forsurgery, which is able to perform stereotactic surgery, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in the drawing, a surgeon(or a user) may proceed with stereotactic surgery for a patient 160 byusing a surgical robot, such as a stereotactic surgery unit 1. Thesurgeon may check an image of a surgical portion, which is displayed ina user interface 150, and may determine the position of a surgicaltarget where the surgery will be processed and the position throughwhich a surgical instrument enters inside the patient 160.

If the surgeon inputs the position of a surgical target and the entryposition of a surgical instrument through the user interface 150, theoperation of the stereotactic surgery unit 1 may be controlled based onthe same so that a surgical instrument that is attached to thestereotactic surgery unit 1 may approach the surgical target. Here, the“surgical target” may refer to a target (such as a tumor or a portion ofan organ, a blood vessel, or a bone, which has a lesion) that is to beremoved or treated by a surgical instrument. For example, the surgicaltarget may be positioned inside the body of the patient 160 or on theexternal surface (or a skin) thereof. The “entry position” (or entry) ofa surgical instrument may refer to the position on the external surfaceof the patient 160, with which the surgical instrument initially comesinto contact or through which the surgical instrument passes in order toapproach the surgical target in the case where the surgical target ispositioned inside the patient's body. For example, in the case where thesurgical instrument operates in order to eliminate a tumor that ispositioned in the brain of the patient, the entry position of a surgicalinstrument may be set on the scalp of the patient.

According to an embodiment, the operation of the stereotactic surgeryunit 1 may be accurately controlled by using an imaging unit 120 and atracking unit 130 that are included in the surgical robot system. Theimaging unit 120 may create imaging data that represents athree-dimensional external image of the surgical portion that includes asurgical target, such as a brain or a spine. Here, the “imaging data”may refer to data that is able to represent a photographed target, suchas a surgical portion, in a form that can be visually recognized, and,for example, may include a two-dimensional or three-dimensional imagethat visually represents a surgical portion and coordinate systeminformation that is related to the image. The tracking unit 130 maytrack markers 170, 172, and 174 that are attached to the imaging unit120, the stereotactic surgery unit 1, and the patient 160 in order tothereby track the position and posture of each target that has theattached marker. According to the surgical robot system of the presentdisclosure, the current position of a surgical instrument may bedetermined, which is attached to the stereotactic surgery unit 1, byusing the tracking unit 130. In addition, based on information that iscreated through the imaging unit 120 and the tracking unit 130, thesurgical instrument may be moved from the current position to theposition of a surgical target, which is input through the user interface150.

According to an embodiment, the stereotactic surgery unit 1 may be usedwhile being attached to the operating table 110. Therefore, even if theoperating table 110 moves during the stereotactic surgery, the positionthrough which the surgical instrument is guided to the surgical targetmay not vary because the stereotactic surgery unit 1 moves together withthe operating table 110. In addition, if the stereotactic surgery unit 1is used while being attached to the operating table 110, thestereotactic surgery unit 1 may be positioned near the patient. Thus, itis possible to precisely control a surgical instrument that is attachedto the stereotactic surgery unit 1, and it is possible to prevent themovement of the surgeon from being interrupted by the stereotacticsurgery unit 1.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the surgical robot system of thepresent disclosure, which has been roughly described in the example ofFIG. 1, will be described in more detail.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the surgical robot system 100,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The surgical robotsystem 100 may conduct stereotactic surgery, and may include an imagingunit 120, a tracking unit 130, and a controller 140. The stereotacticsurgery unit 1 may include a surgical instrument that is able to conductstereotactic surgery for a surgical target included in a surgicalportion and a device that is able to guide the surgical instrument.

According to an embodiment, the stereotactic surgery unit 1 may be astereotactic surgery robot that can operate with 5 degrees of freedom ormore. For example, the stereotactic surgery unit 1 may move the surgicalinstrument in at least three axial directions, and may rotate thesurgical instrument on at least two rotational axes. The stereotacticsurgery unit 1 may be used while being attached to the operating table110.

According to an embodiment, the stereotactic surgery unit 1 mayindependently perform the movement and the rotation of the surgicalinstrument according to the position of the surgical target and theentry position of the surgical instrument. Here, the configuration thatthe movement and the rotation of the surgical instrument areindependently performed may mean that the configuration of moving thesurgical instrument is implemented to be separated from theconfiguration of rotating the surgical instrument and the movement andthe rotation of the surgical instrument may be individually controlledand performed according to the configuration. For example, thestereotactic surgery unit 1 may move the surgical instrument firstaccording to the position of a surgical target, and may then determinethe posture or direction of the approach or insertion of the surgicalinstrument to the surgical target according to the entry position of thesurgical instrument. Thereafter, the stereotactic surgery unit 1 mayrotate the surgical instrument such that the surgical instrument takessuch a posture. Therefore, if the entry position of a surgicalinstrument is changed with respect to the same surgical target duringthe stereotactic surgery, the surgery may be resumed within a short timeby simply changing only the posture of the surgical instrument. Moredetailed embodiments related to the configuration and operation of thestereotactic surgery unit 1 will be described later in the relevantportions of this disclosure.

The imaging unit 120 may create imaging data representing atwo-dimensional or three-dimensional external image of the surgicalportion. According to an embodiment, the imaging unit 120 may createimaging data that represents a surface image of the patient 160, or maycreate imaging data that represents an image of the surgical target orentry position of the surgical instrument (or the surrounding area ofthe entry position). According to an embodiment, the imaging unit 120may create imaging data that represents a three-dimensional image basedon the Phase Measuring Profilometry using a pattern light, etc.

The imaging data that is created by the imaging unit 120 may betransferred to the user interface 150 to then be visually displayed onthe user interface 150. In addition, the imaging data that is created bythe imaging unit 120 may be stored in a storage device 180 to then beused for the analysis of a surgery result or for the treatment aftersurgery.

According to an embodiment, the imaging data created by the imaging unit120 may be registered with the imaging data representing athree-dimensional image of a surgical portion that includes a surgicaltarget, which is previously photographed prior to surgery. The imagingdata showing a three-dimensional image of a surgical portion may bestored in the storage device 180 prior to surgery. The user interface150 may visually display a result of registering two pieces of imagingdata. For example, the user interface 150 may be a display device thatcan display a two-dimensional or three-dimensional image that isrepresented by the data based on certain imaging data. The imaging datashowing a three-dimensional image of a surgical portion, which ispreviously photographed prior to surgery, may be imaging data regardinga CT or MRI image of the surgical portion.

According to another embodiment, the controller 140 may control thestereotactic surgery unit 1 based on the imaging data that is created byusing the imaging unit 120. More detailed embodiments related to theimaging unit 120 will be described later in the relevant part.

The tracking unit 130 is a device for tracking the movement of anobject, and more specifically, is a device that is able to track theposition and/or posture of an object. According to an embodiment, thetracking unit 130 may track a target to which a marker is attached bymeasuring the position and/or posture of the marker that is attached tothe tracking target. For example, after attaching a marker to a surgicalinstrument, the tracking unit 130 may track the surgical instrument bytracking the position and/or posture of the marker that is attached tothe surgical instrument.

According to an embodiment, the stereotactic surgery unit 1 may becontrolled by using a result of tracking the markers 170, 172, and 174that are attached to the imaging unit 120 and the stereotactic surgeryunit 1, and are attached to, or near, the surgical portion of thepatient 160, respectively. The markers may be attached to elements ofthe surgical robot system 100 or to various positions of theinstruments/devices that are used for the stereotactic surgery accordingto the purpose of tracking. More detailed embodiments in relation to theconfiguration and operation of the tracking unit 130 will be describedlater in relevant portions of this disclosure.

The controller 140 may control the operation of various elements of thesurgical robot system 100 that includes the stereotactic surgery unit 1,the imaging unit 120, the tracking unit 130, and the user interface 150.The controller 140 may store and execute control software forcontrolling the elements, which includes surgery planning software andnavigation software. In addition, the controller 140 may include one ormore processors, such as a CPU, that execute such software.

According to an embodiment, the controller 140 may be positioned in theoperating room to then control the surgical robot system 100. Accordingto another embodiment, the controller 140 may be positioned outside theoperating room while being connected to the surgical robot system 100through a wired or wireless network in order to thereby control thesurgical robot system 100. According to another embodiment, thecontroller 140 may be implemented such that the functions thereof aredistributed to each element of the surgical robot system 100. Forexample, a function of the controller 140 for controlling the trackingunit 130 may be implemented in the tracking unit 130, and a function ofthe controller 140 for controlling the imaging unit 120 may beimplemented in the imaging unit 120. The controller 140 may be connectedwith a database that is installed inside or outside the operating roomor hospital by a wired or wireless network, and may receive, from thedatabase, a variety of data including the imaging data that is necessaryfor the surgery.

Hereinafter, the detailed embodiments of each elements included in thesurgical robot system 100 will be described.

<Stereotactic Surgery Unit 1>

FIG. 3 shows the stereotactic surgery robot 1 according to an embodimentof the present disclosure, which may be used as the stereotactic surgeryunit 1 of FIG. 2. The stereotactic surgery robot 1 of the presentembodiment may include a moving unit 10, a rotating unit 40, and asurgical portion support unit 70, and may be configured to be detachablewith respect to the operating table. A surgical instrument 50 may beprovided at one end of the rotating unit 40, and the stereotacticsurgery robot 1 may control the moving unit 10 and the rotating unit 40in order to thereby adjust the position and posture of the surgicalinstrument 50. The stereotactic surgery robot 1, according to thepresent embodiment, can move the moving unit 10 according to theposition of a surgical target, and can rotate the rotating unit 40according to the entry position or posture of a surgical instrument. Themoving unit 10 and the rotating unit 40 may be independently controlled.

Hereinafter, the detailed configuration and operation of the moving unit10 such that the rotating unit 40 is rotatably connected will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. According to an embodiment,the moving unit 10 may operate to allow the rotating unit 40 and thesurgical instrument 50 that is fixed to one end of the rotating unit 40to reciprocate in the direction of at least one of three axes, and thus,the moving unit 10 may have three degrees of freedom. The moving unit 10may include a first to third direction driving units 12, 14, and 16 thatmove along the first to third linear axial directions 13, 15, and 17.

As an example in the present embodiment, the first to third linear axialdirections 13, 15, and 17 are perpendicular to each other, and eachdriving unit 12, 14, or 16 may reciprocate along the perpendicular axes.According to another embodiment, the first to third linear axialdirections 13, 15, and 17 may be arranged in a certain manner in whichthey are not perpendicular to each other. The first to third directiondriving units 12, 14, and 16, for example, may be realized by using oneof a variety of mechanical or electrical driving means that include alinear motor, a ball screw, or the like. In the present embodiment, themoving unit 10 may be detachably connected to a connecting unit 72 ofthe surgical portion support unit 70 through a fixing unit 11, and therotating unit 40 may be rotatably connected to the third driving unit16.

Referring to FIG. 5, the detailed configuration and operation of therotating unit 40 will be described. The rotating unit 40 may include afirst rotational driving unit 42 that is coupled to the third directiondriving unit 16 and a second rotational driving unit 44 that is coupledto the first rotational driving unit 42. The first and second rotationaldriving units 42 and 44 may rotate on the first and second rotationalaxes 43 and 45, respectively. For example, each of the first and secondrotational driving units 42 and 44 may be realized by using one ofvarious mechanical or electrical driving means that include a servomotor, a hydraulic motor, or the like.

As shown in the drawing, the first and second rotational driving units42 and 44 may be designed in a circular arc shape or in a similar shape.The integral type of drape that can cover the entire rotating unit 40may be mounted on the rotating unit 40 by adopting such a shape, and thedrape may be sanitarily installed and replaced. The shapes of the firstand second rotational driving units 42 and 44 are not limited to that ofFIG. 5, and may be modified in a variety of shapes according to asurgical portion or surgery method in which the surgical robot system ofthe present disclosure is used.

The second rotational driving unit 44 of the present embodiment mayinclude a surgical instrument 50 that is coupled to the secondrotational driving unit 44 and a holder 46 that supports the surgicalinstrument 50 to be detachable. The holder 46 is configured to allowvarious types of surgical instruments to be easily attached to, ordetached from, the same. By installing the holder 46 having such aconfiguration, the surgeon may perform a quick operation by shorteningthe replacement time of the surgical instrument.

Meanwhile, the second rotational driving unit 44 may further have asurgical instrument detecting unit 51 for sensing that the surgicalinstrument 50 has been attached or detached. When mounting of thesurgical instrument 50 is detected by the surgical instrument detectingunit 51, the controller 140 may control the driving units 12, 14, and 16of the moving unit 10 to be fixed without further moving. By the controlof the operation of the moving unit 10 by the controller 140, it ispossible to prevent a fatal medical accident that may be caused by themovement of the moving unit due to a malfunction of the surgical robotor physical impact during the operation, and a safe operation can besecured.

In the present embodiment, the first rotational axis 43 and the secondrotational axis 45 may be configured to be perpendicular to each other,and the surgical instrument 50 may be maintained in a posture in whichthe front end thereof is directed to the intersection point of the firstrotational axis 43 and the second rotational axis 45 by attaching thesurgical instrument 50 to the second rotational driving unit 44.Therefore, even if the first rotational driving unit 42 and secondrotational driving unit 44 rotate on the first rotational axis 43 andthe second rotational axis 45, respectively, the intersection point ofthe first rotational axis 43 and the second rotational axis 45 mayremain constantly in a posture in which the front end of the surgicalinstrument 50 is directed to the intersection point of the firstrotational axis 43 and the second rotational axis 45 can be maintained.Since the front end of the surgical instrument 50 is maintained to bedirected to the position of a surgical target while the rotating unit 40is moved by the moving unit 10 such that the intersection point of thefirst rotational axis 43 and the second rotational axis 45 matches theposition of the surgical target, the entry position of the surgicalinstrument 50 may be appropriately selected while the position of thesurgical target remains constant. Therefore, even if the rotating unit40 rotates the surgical instrument 50, the operation of the stereotacticsurgery robot 1 may be controlled while maintaining the position of thesurgical target to be constant. Here, the “position of a surgicaltarget” may mean the position of a certain point of a surgical target orthe position of a three-dimensional space that is occupied by thesurgical target including that point. In addition, the “point” of asurgical target may mean a two-dimensional or three-dimensional regionthat is small enough to be visually recognized as a point, and it is notlimited to a point in a mathematical or physical meaning.

Since the moving unit 10 having the configuration described above maymove the rotating unit 40 according to the position of a surgicaltarget, and the rotating unit 40 rotates the surgical instrument 50according to the entry position of the surgical instrument, the movingunit 10 and the rotating unit 40 are independently controlled accordingto the position of a surgical target and the posture of a surgicalinstrument. Conventionally, a very complicated operation control methodof the surgical robot was used in order to control the surgicalinstrument, and it was impossible to independently control according tothe position of a surgical target and according to the entry position ofthe surgical instrument. However, according to the present embodiment,since the moving unit 10 and the rotating unit 40 can be independentlycontrolled according to the position of a surgical target and the entryposture of a surgical instrument, the accuracy and efficiency of thecontrol of the surgical robot and the surgical instrument may beimproved.

In the present embodiment, a hole 48 may be further included, which isformed in the connecting portion of the first rotational driving unit 42of the rotating unit 40 and the third direction driving unit 16, whichis centered on the first rotational axis 43. An imaging device may beinstalled under the hole 48 in order to photograph medical images of asurgical portion or other affected portions. According to theconfiguration above, even when the position of a surgical instrument iscalibrated, or even when a surgical portion is photographed in order toobserve the condition of the patient during surgery, it is possible toprevent the photographed target from being blocked by the moving unit 10or the rotating unit 40. In addition, the stereotactic surgery robot 1may be operated along with the utilization of various medical imagingdevices that include a C arm by forming the hole 48 in the direction ofthe first rotational axis 43 in the connecting portion of the firstrotational driving unit 42 and the third direction driving unit 16 asdescribed above. For example, the hole 48 may be realized by using ahollow rotary joint that is formed in the direction of the firstrotational axis 43 in the connecting portion of the first rotationaldriving unit 42 and the third direction driving unit 16.

The configuration and operation of the surgical portion support unit 70will be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 6. The surgicalportion support unit 70 may be provided in order to properly adjust theposition of the moving unit 10 and the rotating unit 40 with respect tothe patient or surgical portion. The surgical portion support unit 70may allow the patient to take a more comfortable posture during surgery.In the present embodiment, the surgical portion support unit 70 includesa posture adjusting unit 74 and 75, a connecting unit 72, and anoperating table fixing unit 78.

The connecting unit 72 may include a connecting member 73 that can beconnected to the moving unit 10. The connecting member 73 may berealized by using bolts, nuts, or various mechanical connecting meansincluding the same in order to connect the fixing unit 11 of the movingunit 10 and the connecting unit 72 detachably. The connecting member 73may be realized by using a plurality of bolts and nuts, and it ispossible to secure a reliable connection and fixing between the movingunit 10 and the surgical portion support unit 70 through theconfiguration above.

The posture adjusting unit 74 and 75 may include an angle adjusting unit75 for adjusting the angle of a surgical portion and a height adjustingunit 74 for adjusting the height of a surgical portion. The angleadjusting unit 75 may be realized by using a manual or automaticmechanical device that can adjust the angle between the connecting unit72 and the height adjusting unit 74 based on a single axis. The manualmechanical device may include various manual structures that include ahinge or a link structure, and the automatic mechanical device mayinclude an actuator, such as a servo motor or a hydraulic cylinder. Theheight adjusting unit 74 may be coupled to the operating table fixingunit 78 to be movable in the vertical direction in order to therebyadjust the total height of the other elements that are connected to theheight adjusting unit 74. The height adjusting unit 74 may be realizedby using a manual or automatic mechanical device that includes a ballscrew, a linear motor, or the like.

The operating table fixing unit 78 may be configured to secure theentire surgical portion support unit 70 to the operating table 110.Through this, the entire stereotactic surgery robot 1 including themoving unit 10 and the rotating unit 40 may be fixed to the operatingtable 110. The operating table fixing unit 78 may include a clampingunit 79 to solidly fix the operating table 110 and the operating tablefixing unit 78. The clamping unit 79 may clamp the operating tablefixing unit 78 to a portion (for example, a rail provided on the side)of the operating table 110 in order to thereby fix the entire surgicalportion support unit 70 to the operating table 110. Although theoperating table fixing unit 78 adopts the clamping unit 79 as an examplein the present embodiment, the operating table fixing unit 78 may befixed to the operating table 110 by using various fixing mechanisms,such as screws or tight-fit coupling.

The detailed configuration and operation of the surgical portion fixingunit 90 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 7 and8. In general, the stereotactic surgery device is required to fix asurgical portion (for example, a patient's head) of the patient withrespect to the surgical instrument without shaking. To this end, thesurgical portion fixing unit 90 may include surgical portion fixingframes 92 and 93 and surgical portion fixing pins 94 in the presentembodiment. The surgical portion fixing frames 92 and 93 are comprisedof a lateral-direction surgical portion fixing frame 92 and alongitudinal-direction surgical portion fixing frame 93 for fixing asurgical portion, and a surgical portion fixing pin 94 is attached toone end of the longitudinal-direction surgical portion fixing frame 93,which is able to precisely fix the surgical portion of the patient.Although the present embodiment shows an example in which the surgicalportion fixing unit 90 includes a single lateral-direction surgicalportion fixing frame 92 and four longitudinal-direction surgical portionfixing frames 93, the number of lateral-direction surgical portionfixing frames 92 or longitudinal-direction surgical portion fixingframes 93 and the connecting configuration therebetween may be properlymodified as necessary.

The surgical portion fixing frames 92 and 93 of the present embodimentmay be modified in an appropriate form in order to improve thecompatibility of usage with the imaging unit 120. For example, in thecase of surgery for the patient's head, an image of the patient isphotographed, and then feature regions, such as eyes, a nose, aglabella, or ears of the patient, are extracted from the image. Thus, itis possible to predict and determine the precise position of a surgicalportion (that is, the head) of the patient. In this case, the surgicalportion fixing frames 92 and 93 may be configured so as not to interruptthe imaging of a specific region of the patient. In the presentembodiment, for example, the upper central portion of thelateral-direction surgical portion fixing frame 92 may have a concaveshape so as not to interfere with a nose portion of the patient, and thelongitudinal-direction surgical portion fixing frame 93 may be coupledto the outermost of the lateral-direction surgical portion fixing frame92 so as not to cover the ear portion of the patient. Therefore, thelateral-direction surgical portion fixing frame 92 and thelongitudinal-direction surgical portion fixing frame 93 may be preventedfrom blocking the feature regions of the patient in order to therebyensure the imaging of the feature regions of the patient by the imagingunit 120 during surgery.

The surgical portion fixing frames 92 and 93 and the surgical portionfixing pins 94, for example, may be made of a material, such as a metal,that has durability and rigid characteristics. However, in the case ofusing such a metal material, the metal material may come into contactwith an electric device, such as electronic control equipment ormeasuring equipment, to then cause an electric shock to the patient.Thus, in order to prevent this, insulating means may be connected to thesurgical portion fixing frames 92 and 93 to prevent electric contactbetween the electric device and the patient. More specifically, thesurgical portion fixing frames 92 and 93 and the connecting unit 72 maybe connected to be insulated from each other by interposing theinsulating means 95 between the surgical portion fixing frames 92 and 93and the connecting unit 72.

Since the surgical portion fixing unit 90 may be detachably connected tothe connecting unit 72 in the present embodiment, the surgical portionfixing unit 90 may be selected, which has a shape and size to conform tothe purpose of the surgery, and may be simply replaced. In addition,since the surgical portion fixing unit 90 may be directly fixed to thesurgical portion support unit 70, the surgical portion fixing unit 90may stably fix the surgical portion even in the case of the movement ofthe moving unit 10 and the rotation of the rotating unit 40.

The stereotactic surgery robot 1 of the present embodiment may beautomatically controlled through the controller 140. Hereinafter, thecontrol method of the stereotactic surgery robot 1 will be described inmore detail.

The controller 140 may determine the position of a surgical target andthe entry position of a surgical instrument according to a surgery plan,and may output a control signal to allow the moving unit 10 and therotating unit 40 to move the surgical instrument according to thedetermined positions. Based on the control signal output from thecontroller 140, the moving unit 10 may move in the direction of at leastone of three axes according to the position information of a surgicaltarget such that the intersection point of two rotational axes matchesthe position of a surgical target. In addition, based on the controlsignal output from the controller 140, the rotating unit 40 may rotatethe surgical instrument 50 on at least one of two rotational axesaccording to entry posture information of the surgical instrument. Morespecifically, based on the control signal output from the controller140, the moving unit 10 may move: the first direction driving unit alongthe first linear axial direction; the second direction driving unitalong the second linear axial direction; or the third direction drivingunit along the third linear axial direction. In addition, the rotatingunit 40 may rotate the first rotational driving unit on the firstrotational axis, or may rotate the second rotational driving unit on thesecond rotational axis based on the control signal of the controller140.

As described above, since the moving unit 10 and the rotating unit 40are independently controlled according to the position of a surgicaltarget and the entry posture of a surgical instrument, it is possible toreduce an error in controlling the operation of the surgical robot 1,and even if an error occurs, additional operation control that isnecessary to correct the error may be simplified.

In addition, the controller 140 may control the angle adjusting unit 75and the height adjusting unit 74 to adjust at least one of the angle orheight of the surgical portion.

Although the stereotactic surgery robot 1, according to the presentdisclosure, has been described through the exemplary embodiment, theembodiment may be comprehensively applied to various surgical portions(a head, a spine, or joints of the body) to which the stereotacticsurgery can be applied.

<Tracking Unit 130>

The tracking unit 130 is a device that is able to track the movement ofan object, and more specifically, is a device that is able to measurethe position and/or posture of an object. Although a tracking method isnot particularly limited, in general, an optical tracking method basedon optical technology or an electromagnetic tracking method based onelectromagnetic technology may be used. In addition, various trackingmethods may be used in combination.

The position measured by the tracking unit 130, for example, may bedefined as spatial coordinates, such as coordinates on the X, Y, and Zaxes of an orthogonal coordinate system. The posture measured by thetracking unit 130 may be defined as rotation information, such as roll,pitch, or yaw. 6 degrees of freedom of the position and posture of anobject, which are defined as described above, may be measured for anaccurate tracking of an object.

According to an embodiment, the tracking unit 130 may measure theposition and/or posture of the marker that is attached to an object inorder to thereby track the object. For example, after attaching a markerto a surgical instrument, the tracking unit 130 may measure the positionand/or posture of the marker attached to the surgical instrument inorder to thereby track the surgical instrument.

According to an embodiment, the tracking unit 130 may measure theposition of a marker by using a retroreflector as a marker. According toanother embodiment, a structure that has three or more markers attachedthereto may be attached to a tracking target in order to simultaneouslymeasure the position and posture of the tracking target. In this case,the retroreflector may be used as a marker, and any type of marker maybe used if the tracking unit 130 can recognize the position of themarker. According to an embodiment, the position and posture of thetracking target may be simultaneously measured by comparing a geometricposition relationship between three or more markers that are measuredthrough the tracking unit 130 with a geometric position relationshipbetween three or more markers, which is pre-stored.

Meanwhile, the position and posture of an object to which a marker isattached may be measured by using a single marker in order to simplifythe marker. FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a marker 910 and atracking unit 130 that may be used in an optical tracking method using asingle marker, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The marker910 may include one or more pattern parts 911 where a pattern is formedand a first lens 912 that is able to enlarge and transmit the pattern ofthe pattern part 911. The tracking unit 130 may include a second lens131 and an image-forming device 132 that can form an image of thepattern of the pattern part 911, which is transmitted from the marker910. According to an embodiment, in order to increase a recognitionrange of the pattern of the pattern part 911 or in order to increase arecognition rate of the pattern thereof, two or more tracking units 130may be used, and two or more image-forming devices 132 may be includedin a single tracking unit 130.

The pattern that is formed in the pattern part 911 may provideinformation to measure the position and posture of the marker 910.According to an embodiment, a plurality of patterns may be formed on thepattern part 911 to be arranged in a regular shape and spacing, and theposition and posture of the marker 910 may be determined by using theimage on which the pattern is formed.

According to an embodiment, when the image-forming device 132 forms animage with all or some of the pattern that is implemented in the patternpart 911, the controller 140 may extract a change in the size of aregion where the pattern is viewed in the formed image, and maydetermine the position of the marker 910 based on the same. Morespecifically, when the position of the marker 910 varies, the size ofthe image-formed pattern varies as well. Such a size change of thepattern may be calculated as a position by comparing the diameter andthe focal length of the lens 131.

According to another embodiment, the controller 140 may calculate theposition of the marker 910 by using triangulation based on the fact thatthe positions of regions where all or some of the pattern is viewed aredifferent in the images that are formed in two image-forming devices,respectively. According to an embodiment, the controller 140 maydetermine the position of the marker 910 based on a change in theposition of each pattern region in the pattern. According to anembodiment, a function of the controller 140 for controlling thetracking unit 130 may be integrated with the tracking unit 130.

The marker 910 may be implemented as an active marker or as a passivemarker. In the case of an active marker, the marker 910 may include alight source therein. Thus, the light source in the marker 910 may emita light onto the pattern part 911, and the emitted light may passthrough the pattern formed on the pattern part 911, or may be reflectedfrom the pattern. The tracking unit 130 may receive the light passingthrough, or reflected from, the pattern, and may form an image of thepattern of the pattern part 911. The controller 140 may track theposition and posture of the marker 910 based on the image that is formedas described above.

In the case of a passive marker, a light source for emitting a lightonto the marker 910 may be disposed on the outside of the marker 910.Therefore, the light source located outside of the marker 910 may emit alight onto the marker 910, and the emitted light may pass through thepattern formed on the pattern part 911, or may be reflected from thepattern. The tracking unit 130 may receive the light passing through, orreflected from, the pattern, and may form an image of the pattern of thepattern part 911. The controller 140 may track the position and postureof the marker 910 based on the image that is formed as described above.If the surgery place is bright enough for the pattern of the marker 910to be clearly recognized by the tracking unit 130, the marker 910 may betracked without additional light sources.

According to an embodiment, the marker 910 may be implemented such thatthe focus of the first lens 912 is on a pattern plane of the patternpart 911. To this end, the shape of the pattern plane of the patternpart 911 may be implemented to match the shape of a plane on which thefocus of the first lens 912 is, or the first lens 912 may be designedsuch that the focus of the first lens 912 is on the pattern plane of thepattern part 911.

If the marker 910 is implemented such that the focus of the first lens912 is on the pattern plane of the pattern part 911, and if theimage-forming device 132 of the tracking unit 130 is positioned in thefocal length of the second lens 131, the optical system of the marker910 and the tracking unit 130 may form an infinity optical system. Ifthe marker 910 and the tracking unit 130 form an infinity opticalsystem, the tracking unit 130 may form an enlarged pattern image throughthe infinity optical system. Thus, even if the marker 910 is far awayfrom the tracking unit 130, a recognition rate of the pattern in thetracking unit 130 may be improved.

The tracking unit 130 may form an image of the pattern transmittedthrough the second lens 131 by using the image-forming device 132. Theimage-forming device 132 is a device for converting image informationthat is transmitted through a light into an electric signal, andtypically, it may be implemented by using a CMOS image sensor, a CCD, orthe like. According to an embodiment, the image-forming device 132 mayform an image at the position corresponding to the focal length of thesecond lens 131.

<Imaging Unit 120>

The imaging unit 120 is a device that is able to create imaging datathat represents an external image of a surgical portion. According to anembodiment, the imaging unit 120 may obtain a surface image of thepatient 160, or may create imaging data representing an image of asurgical portion or the entry position of a surgical instrument (or thesurrounding area of the entry position). Although the imaging unit 120may be a device that can create imaging data representingtwo-dimensional images, such as general camera images, it may be adevice that can create imaging data representing three-dimensionalimages that is necessary for the process of a precise surgery, such asstereotactic surgery.

According to an embodiment, the imaging unit 120 may create imaging datathat represents three-dimensional images based on a Phase MeasuringProfilometry by using a pattern light or the like. For example, imagingdata representing three-dimensional images may be created by processingimages that are photographed by irradiating a pattern light in a regularform onto the patient. Although the pattern light may have the intensityof illumination in a sine wave form, such as a lattice pattern light, itis not limited thereto. The irradiated pattern light may vary in theintensity of light on the surface of the patient 160 depending on thecurvature of the surface of the patient 160, and imaging datarepresenting three dimensional images may be created by creating phasedata from the same and by calculating the height of each of the pointsthat constitute the surface.

According to an embodiment, the imaging unit 120 may create imaging datarepresenting three-dimensional images by an image processing unit thatis included in the imaging unit 120. According to another embodiment,the controller 140 may receive the image data that is obtained by theimaging unit 120, and may then process the image data in order tothereby create imaging data representing three-dimensional images.

According to an embodiment, the imaging data created by the imaging unit120 may be visually displayed through the user interface 150. Accordingto another embodiment, two images may overlap each other by using animage registration between an imaging unit image that is represented bythe imaging data that is created by the imaging unit 120 and the otherimage, and the result thereof may be visually displayed through the userinterface 150. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, an imaging unit imagemay overlap a surgical portion image by using an image registrationbetween the imaging unit image for a surrounding area 1050 of the entryposition 1030 of the surgical instrument, which is obtained by using theimaging unit 120, and a surgical portion image including a surgicaltarget 1010, which is obtained prior to surgery.

According to an embodiment, the image registration may be conducted byusing the imaging unit image and at least a portion of a surgicalportion that is commonly included in the other image to be registeredwith the same. According to another embodiment, an imaging unit imageand the other image to be registered with the same are obtained so as toinclude the same fiducial marker, and thereafter, the image registrationmay be performed by using the fiducial marker that is included in thetwo images.

<Method of Controlling Surgical Robot System 100>

In general, stereotactic surgery is intended for a portion, such as abrain, that is hardly able to be identified by the surgeon with thenaked eye. Therefore, the surgeon may determine a surgical target byanalyzing a three-dimensional image, such as a CT or MRI image, of thesurgical portion including a surgical target in the body of the patient160 or by analyzing a two-dimensional sectional image of thethree-dimensional image, and may determine the position in which thesurgical instrument safely enters the surgical target. For example, whenthe CT image is displayed through the user interface 150, the surgeonmay determine the position of a surgical target and/or the entryposition of a surgical instrument by checking the CT image, and mayinput the determined positions through the user interface 150. Thestereotactic surgery unit 1 of the present invention may be controlledbased on the position of a surgical target and/or the entry position ofa surgical instrument, which are input by the surgeon.

FIG. 11 shows a result in which a surgeon inputs the position 1110 of asurgical target and the entry position 1130 of a surgical instrumentinto a three-dimensional image of a surgical portion. According to anembodiment, the user, such as a surgeon, may input, by using a touchscreen or the like, the position 1110 of a surgical target or the entryposition 1130 of a surgical instrument into an image that is displayedthrough the user interface 150. According to another embodiment, theuser may input the position 1110 of a surgical target or the entryposition 1130 of a surgical instrument by typing the coordinate values.

When the position 1110 of a surgical target or the entry position 1130of a surgical instrument is input through the user interface asdescribed above, the controller 140 may control the operation of thestereotactic surgery unit 1 based on the input position 1110 of thesurgical target.

According to an embodiment, the controller 140 may move the moving unit10 of the stereotactic surgery unit 1 in a direction of at least one ofthree axes based on the input position 1110 of a surgical target. Therotating unit 40 for rotating the surgical instrument may be attached tothe moving unit 10. Therefore, the rotating unit 40 may be moved withthe movement of the moving unit 10. According to an embodiment, thecontroller 140 may move the rotating unit through the moving unit 10such that the coordinate corresponding to the position of a surgicaltarget is positioned at the intersection point of two rotational axes ofthe rotating unit 40.

According to an embodiment, the controller 140 may determine the entryposture of a surgical instrument based on the position 1110 of asurgical target and the entry position 1130 of a surgical instrument,which are input by the user. The controller 140 may rotate the rotatingunit 40 to which the surgical instrument is attached on at least one oftwo rotational axes such that the surgical instrument has the determinedentry posture of the surgical instrument.

The stereotactic surgery unit 1 may be driven based on the coordinatesystem of the stereotactic surgery unit 1. However, the position 1110 ofa surgical target and the entry position 1130 of a surgical instrument,which are input through the user interface 150, are on the coordinatesystem of the image that is displayed on the user interface 150 ratherthan the coordinate system of the stereotactic surgery unit 1.Accordingly, in order to control the stereotactic surgery unit 1 basedon the coordinate system of the stereotactic surgery unit 1, theposition 1110 of a surgical target and the entry position 1130 of asurgical instrument, which are input based on the coordinate system ofthe image displayed on the user interface 150, should be converted intothe positions based on the coordinate system of the stereotactic surgeryunit 1.

According to an embodiment, the controller 140 may receive imaging data(“the first imaging data”) that represents a three-dimensional image,such as a CT or MRI image, which is previously photographed prior tosurgery. The first imaging data may be imaging data related to asurgical portion that includes a surgical target. The first imaging datamay be pre-stored in the storage device 180 prior to surgery. Thecontroller 140 may receive imaging data (“the second imaging data”) thatrepresents a three-dimensional external image of the surgical portion,which is created through the imaging unit 120. The controller 140 may:(i) create the first coordinate conversion relationship for converting acoordinate from the first coordinate system of the first imaging datainto the second coordinate system of the second imaging data; and (ii)track the position and posture of the imaging unit 120 by using thetracking unit 130.

The controller 140 may create a coordinate conversion relationship forconverting a coordinate from the first coordinate system of the firstimaging data into the fourth coordinate system of the stereotacticsurgery unit 1 by using the first coordinate conversion relationship andthe position and posture of the imaging unit 120.

Hereinafter, a more detailed description will be made with reference toFIG. 12. First, the user may input the position 1110 of a surgicaltarget and the entry position 1130 of a surgical instrument through theuser interface 150. The controller 140 may convert the position 1110 ofa surgical target and the entry position 1130 of a surgical instrument,which are input by the user, into the coordinates on the firstcoordinate system 1210 of the first imaging data.

According to an embodiment, in order to convert the position on thefirst coordinate system 1210 of the first imaging data into the positionon the fourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotactic surgery unit 1,the coordinate on the first coordinate system 1210 of the first imagingdata may be converted in sequence into the coordinate on the thirdcoordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174, and then into thecoordinate on the fourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotacticsurgery unit 1. For such coordinate conversion, it is possible to obtain(i) the second coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the first coordinate system 1210 of the first imagingdata into the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174 and(ii) the third coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker174 into the fourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotactic surgeryunit 1. Here, the patient marker 174 may be a marker that is attached toa surgical portion of the patient 160, or may be a marker that isattached to a target, such as the surgical portion fixing unit 90 of thestereotactic surgery unit 1, that is disposed close to a surgicalportion and can be moved integrally with the patient 160. One or morepatient markers 174 may be attached to the target.

The second coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the first coordinate system 1210 of the first imagingdata into the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174 maybe obtained by using (i) the first coordinate conversion relationshipfor converting the coordinate from the first coordinate system 1210 ofthe first imaging data into the second coordinate system 1240 of thesecond imaging data and (ii) the position and posture of the imagingunit 120, which are obtained by using the tracking unit 130. Morespecifically, as shown in FIG. 13, when the coordinate on the firstcoordinate system 1210 of the first imaging data may be converted insequence into: the coordinate on the second coordinate system 1240 ofthe second imaging data; the coordinate on the fifth coordinate system1250 of the imaging unit 120; and then the coordinate on the thirdcoordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174, the coordinate may beconverted from the first coordinate system 1210 of the first imagingdata into the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174.

The second imaging data may be created by using the imaging unit 120prior to the process of stereotactic surgery or in the process ofstereotactic surgery. According to an embodiment, the first coordinateconversion relationship for converting the coordinate from the firstcoordinate system 1210 of the first imaging data into the secondcoordinate system 1240 of the second imaging data may be created byusing an image registration between a three-dimensional imagerepresented by the first imaging data and a three-dimensional imagerepresented by the second imaging data. The image registration between athree-dimensional image represented by the first imaging data and athree-dimensional image represented by the second imaging data may beperformed by using at least some of the surgical portion that iscommonly included in both the images. According to another embodiment,after obtaining the first imaging data and the second imaging data thatinclude data related to the same fiducial marker, the image registrationmay be performed by using the fiducial marker. Furthermore, othervarious known image registration methods may be used to create the firstcoordinate conversion relationship.

According to an embodiment, the fourth coordinate conversionrelationship for converting the coordinate from the second coordinatesystem 1240 of the second imaging data into the fifth coordinate system1250 of the imaging unit 120 may be created by using (i) the coordinateconversion relationship for converting the coordinate from the referencecoordinate system of the optical system of the imaging unit 120 into thefifth coordinate system 1250 of the imaging unit 120 and (ii) thecoordinate conversion relationship for converting the coordinate fromthe second coordinate system 1240 of the second imaging data into thereference coordinate system of the optical system of the imaging unit120.

The fifth coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the fifth coordinate system 1250 of the imaging unit 120into the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174 may becreated by using (i) the coordinate conversion relationship forconverting the coordinate from the fifth coordinate system 1250 of theimaging unit 120 into the coordinate system of the tracking unit 130 and(ii) the coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker174 into the coordinate system of the tracking unit 130.

At this time, the coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the fifth coordinate system 1250 of the imaging unit 120into the coordinate system of the tracking unit 130 and the coordinateconversion relationship for converting the coordinate from the thirdcoordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174 into the coordinatesystem of the tracking unit 130 may be created by using the positionsand postures of the patient marker 174 and the imaging unit marker 170,which are measured by using the tracking unit 130.

The third coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker174 into the fourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotactic surgeryunit 1 may be created by using (i) the position and posture of a markerthat is positioned at the origin of the stereotactic surgery unit 1 and(ii) the position and posture of the patient marker 174. At this time,the position and posture of each marker may be measured by using thetracking unit 130. Here, the origin of the stereotactic surgery unit 1may be defined as an intersection point of the rotational axes of thestereotactic surgery unit 1. According to another embodiment, the thirdcoordinate conversion relationship may be created through a geometriccalculation (kinematic calculation) by using the fact that the positionwhere the patient marker 174 is attached and the position of the originof the stereotactic surgery unit 1 remain constant.

As described above, if the coordinate on the first coordinate system1210 of the first imaging data are converted in sequence into: thecoordinate on the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker174; and then the coordinate on the fourth coordinate system 1230 of thestereotactic surgery unit 1, the position 1110 of a surgical target andthe entry position 1130 of a surgical instrument, which are expressedwith the coordinates on the first coordinate system 1210 of the firstimaging data, may be converted into the fourth coordinate system 1230 ofthe stereotactic surgery unit 1. Meanwhile, if the patient 160 moves,the coordinate conversion relationships as described above may vary.Therefore, the patient 160 is required to be fixed without moving, andif the patient 160 moves, the controller 140 is to obtain the coordinateconversion relationships above again.

According to an embodiment, the stereotactic surgery unit 1 of thepresent disclosure may be controlled based on the position of a surgicaltarget and/or the entry position of a surgical instrument, which aredisplayed on the two-dimensional sectional image that constitutes athree-dimensional image that is represented by the first imaging data.FIGS. 14 to 16 are two-dimensional sectional images on the axial plane,on the sagittal plane, and on the coronal plane of a surgical portion,respectively, which are photographed prior to surgery. The controller140 may extract such two-dimensional sectional images from the firstimaging data, and may visualize the same to the user through the userinterface 150.

The user may display the position 1410 or 1412 of a surgical target andthe entry position 1430 or 1432 of a surgical instrument on thetwo-dimensional sectional images that are visualized through the userinterface 150. The controller 140 may convert the position 1410 or 1412of a surgical target and/or the entry position 1430 or 1432 of asurgical instrument, which are displayed on the sixth coordinate system1260 of the two-dimensional sectional image into the positions on thefourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotactic surgery unit 1, andmay then move the moving unit 10 according to the converted position ofthe surgical target. In addition, the controller 140 may rotate therotating unit 40 to which the surgical instrument is attached such thatthe surgical instrument has the entry posture of a surgical instrument,which has been determined based on the converted position of a surgicaltarget and the converted entry position of a surgical instrument.

As shown in FIG. 12, in order to convert the coordinates displayed onthe sixth coordinate system 1260 of the two-dimensional sectional imageinto the coordinates on the fourth coordinate system 1230 of thestereotactic surgery unit 1, the coordinates on the sixth coordinatesystem 1260 of the two-dimensional sectional image may be converted insequence into: (i) the coordinate on the first coordinate system 1210 ofthe first imaging data; (ii) the coordinate on the third coordinatesystem 1220 of the patient marker 174; and then (iii) the coordinate onthe fourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotactic surgery unit 1.

However, the second coordinate conversion relationship for convertingthe coordinate from the first coordinate system 1210 into the thirdcoordinate system and the third coordinate conversion relationship forconverting the coordinate from the third coordinate system into thefourth coordinate system may be created in advance through theembodiments described above. Therefore, when the user wishes to controlthe stereotactic surgery unit 1 through the two-dimensional sectionalimage that is displayed on the user interface 150, the stereotacticsurgery unit 1 may be controlled by simply creating only a coordinateconversion relationship for converting the coordinate from the sixthcoordinate system 1260 of the two-dimensional sectional image into thefirst coordinate system 1210 of the first imaging data.

According to an embodiment, since the two-dimensional sectional imagemay be created from the first imaging data, the coordinate conversionrelationship for converting the coordinate from the sixth coordinatesystem 1260 of the two-dimensional sectional image into the firstcoordinate system 1210 of the first imaging data may be created based onsuch a created relationship.

Meanwhile, the controller 140 is required to recognize the initialposition and posture of a surgical instrument prior to moving and/orrotating the surgical instrument attached to the stereotactic surgeryunit 1. According to an embodiment, in order to recognize the positionand posture of a surgical instrument, the stereotactic surgery unitmarker 172 is attached to a portion near the surgical instrument in therotating unit 40 of the stereotactic surgery unit 1, and the positionand posture of the stereotactic surgery unit marker 172 may be measuredby the tracking unit 130. However, the position and posture of thestereotactic surgery unit marker 172 refers to the position and postureon the coordinate system of the tracking unit 130. Therefore, thecontroller 140 may convert the position and posture of the stereotacticsurgery unit marker 172 on the coordinate system of the tracking unit130 into the position and posture on the fourth coordinate system 1230of the stereotactic surgery unit 1, and may then recognize the initialposition and posture of the surgical instrument based on the convertedposition and posture.

As described above, the control of the stereotactic surgery unit 1 ofthe present disclosure starts from the creation of a coordinateconversion relationship (the first coordinate conversion relationship)for converting the coordinate from the coordinate system of a CT or MRIimage that is photographed prior to surgery into the coordinate systemof an imaging unit image that is obtained by using the imaging unit 120.At this time, the coordinate conversion relationship may be simplycreated through an image registration between the two images. However,if the surgical portion moves due to the inevitable movement of thepatient 160 or the movement of a configuration, such as the surgicalportion fixing unit 90 of the stereotactic surgery unit 1, during thestereotactic surgery, all the conditions for the control of thestereotactic surgery unit 1 may be changed. In this case, the controller140 is required to obtain the coordinate conversion relationshipsdescribed above again. In the case of the present disclosure, even ifsuch a movement occurs during the stereotactic surgery, once only theimaging data is again created through the imaging unit 120, thecoordinate conversion relationships for controlling the stereotacticsurgery unit 1 may be simply created again by using an imageregistration between an image that is represented by the imaging dataand a CT or MRI image. Therefore, even with the movement of the patient160 during the stereotactic surgery, the stereotactic surgery can beresumed within a short time.

In addition, in the prior art, since the position of the stereotacticsurgery robot does not remain constant and the stereotactic surgeryrobot may move during surgery, the position of the surgical robot shouldbe accurately recognized in order to control the operation of thesurgical robot based on the current position of the surgical robot. Tothis end, according to the prior art, additional markers are attached tothe base of the surgical robot, and the position of the surgical robotcan be recognized by using the same. However, since the stereotacticsurgery unit 1 of the present disclosure is used while being fixed tothe operating table 110, a positional relationship between thestereotactic surgery unit 1 and the surgical portion may always bemaintained to be constant, and the position of the stereotactic surgeryunit 1 is not changed. Therefore, according to the surgical robot system100 of the present disclosure, the conventional and additional markersare not required because the position for controlling the stereotacticsurgery unit 1 does not need to be recognized, and accordingly, theamount of calculation for the control may be reduced.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating a method for controlling thestereotactic surgery unit that moves and rotates a surgical instrumentat 5 degrees of freedom or more in the stereotactic surgery robotsystem, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

First, in operation S1710, the controller may receive first imaging datathat represents a three-dimensional image of a surgical portion thatincludes a surgical target. For example, referring to FIG. 2, thecontroller 140 may receive, from the storage device 180, imaging datathat represents a three-dimensional image for a surgical portion, whichis photographed prior to surgery. The first imaging data may bevisualized through the user interface 150 to then be used as data todetermine the position of a surgical target and the entry position of asurgical instrument. When the position of a surgical target and theentry position of a surgical instrument are input through the userinterface 150, the controller 140 may control the stereotactic surgeryunit 1 based on the position of a surgical target and the entry positionof a surgical instrument, which are input.

After the controller 140 receives the first imaging data in operationS1710, the imaging unit may create second imaging data that represents athree-dimensional external image of the surgical portion in operationS1720. For example, the imaging unit 120 may create the second imagingdata that represents a three-dimensional image of the position in whichthe surgical instrument passes through a skull. According to anembodiment, the second imaging data may be created by Phase MeasuringProfilometry using a pattern light, etc.

After the first and second imaging data are prepared through operationsS1710 and S1720, the tracking unit may track the position and posture ofat least one marker that is attached to, or disposed close to, theimaging unit and the surgical portion in operation S1730. For example,referring to FIG. 2, the tracking unit 130 may track the position andposture of the imaging unit 120 by tracking the marker 170 that isattached to the imaging unit 120. In addition, the tracking unit 130 maytrack the position and posture of the patient marker 174. Meanwhile,since operations S1710 to S1730 are intended for the controller 140 toobtain data for controlling the stereotactic surgery unit 1, thesequence of the operations may be changed, and the operations may beperformed in parallel.

After the data for the control of the stereotactic surgery unit 1 isprepared as described above, in operation S1740, the controller maycreate the first coordinate conversion relationship for converting acoordinate from the first coordinate system of the first imaging datainto the second coordinate system of the second imaging data. Accordingto an embodiment, the operation in which the controller 140 creates thefirst coordinate conversion relationship may include an operation inwhich the controller 140 creates the first coordinate conversionrelationship through an image registration between a three-dimensionalimage represented by the first imaging data and a three-dimensionalimage represented by the second imaging data. According to anembodiment, the controller 140 may perform the image registration byusing at least a portion of the surgical portion that is commonlyincluded in the three-dimensional image represented by the first imagingdata and the three-dimensional image represented by the second imagingdata.

After the first coordinate conversion relationship is created inoperation S1740, in operation S1750, the controller may create thesecond coordinate conversion relationship for converting the coordinatefrom the first coordinate system into the third coordinate system of oneor more markers and the third coordinate conversion relationship forconverting the coordinate from the third coordinate system into thefourth coordinate system of the stereotactic surgery unit by using thefirst coordinate conversion relationship and the positions and posturesof the imaging unit and one or more patient markers. For example,referring to FIG. 12, the controller 140 may create the secondcoordinate conversion relationship for converting the coordinate fromthe first coordinate system 1210 of the first imaging data into thethird coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174 and the thirdcoordinate conversion relationship for converting the coordinate fromthe third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174 into thefourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotactic surgery unit 1.

According to an embodiment, the controller 140 may create the secondcoordinate conversion relationship based on the position and posture ofthe imaging unit 120. More specifically referring to FIG. 18, inoperation S1751, the controller may create the fourth coordinateconversion relationship for converting the coordinate from the secondcoordinate system into the fifth coordinate system of the imaging unitand the fifth coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the fifth coordinate system into the third coordinatesystem based on the position and posture of the imaging unit. Forexample, referring to FIG. 13, the controller 140 may create the fourthcoordinate conversion relationship for converting the coordinate fromthe second coordinate system 1240 of the second imaging data into thefifth coordinate system 1250 of the imaging unit 120 and the fifthcoordinate conversion relationship for converting the coordinate fromthe fifth coordinate system 1250 of the imaging unit 120 into the thirdcoordinate system 1220 of the patient marker 174 based on the positionand posture of the imaging unit 120.

According to an embodiment, the fourth coordinate conversionrelationship may be created by using (i) the coordinate conversionrelationship for converting the coordinate from the reference coordinatesystem of the optical system of the imaging unit 120 into the fifthcoordinate system 1250 of the imaging unit 120 and (ii) the coordinateconversion relationship for converting the coordinate from the secondcoordinate system 1240 of the second imaging data into the referencecoordinate system of the optical system of the imaging unit 120.According to an embodiment, the fifth coordinate conversion relationshipmay be created by using (i) the coordinate conversion relationship forconverting the coordinate from the fifth coordinate system 1250 of theimaging unit 120 into the coordinate system of the tracking unit 130 and(ii) the coordinate conversion relationship for converting thecoordinate from the third coordinate system 1220 of the patient marker174 into the coordinate system of the tracking unit 130.

When the fourth coordinate conversion relationship and the fifthcoordinate conversion relationship are created, in operation S1752, thecontroller 140 may create the second coordinate conversion relationshipbased on the first coordinate conversion relationship, the fourthcoordinate conversion relationship, and the fifth coordinate conversionrelationship. According to an embodiment, such a coordinate conversionrelationship may be expressed in the form of a coordinate conversionmatrix. Therefore, the second coordinate conversion relationship may becreated through a calculation by using a matrix showing the firstcoordinate conversion relationship, a matrix showing the fourthcoordinate conversion relationship, and a matrix showing the fifthcoordinate conversion relationship, which are created.

According to an embodiment, the third coordinate conversion relationshipmay be created by using (i) the position and posture of a marker that ispositioned at the origin of the stereotactic surgery unit 1 and (ii) theposition and posture of at least one marker (patient marker), which maybe obtained by using the tracking unit 130. According to anotherembodiment, the third coordinate conversion relationship may be createdthrough a geometric calculation (kinematic calculation) by using thefact that the position where the patient marker 174 is attached and theposition of the origin of the stereotactic surgery unit 1 remainconstant.

After the second coordinate conversion relationship and the thirdcoordinate conversion relationship are created as described above, inoperation S1760, the controller may control the stereotactic surgeryunit by using the second coordinate conversion relationship and thethird coordinate conversion relationship. More specifically, thedescription will be made hereinafter with reference to FIG. 19. When thesecond coordinate conversion relationship and the third coordinateconversion relationship are created through operations S1710 to S1750,the controller may visualize the first imaging data through the userinterface in order for the user to input the position of a surgicaltarget and the entry position of a surgical instrument in operationS1761. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the controller 140 mayvisualize the first imaging data that represents a three-dimensionalimage of a surgical portion including a surgical target through the userinterface 150.

When the visualization of the first imaging data is made throughoperation S1761, the position of a surgical target and the entryposition of a surgical instrument may be input through the userinterface 150 to then be displayed on the visualized image. Thecontroller may convert the position of a surgical target and the entryposition of a surgical instrument, which have been input by the userthrough the user interface, into the coordinates on the first coordinatesystem. For example, referring to FIG. 2, the controller 140 may convertthe position of a surgical target and the entry position of a surgicalinstrument, which have been input by the user through the user interface150, into the coordinates on the first coordinate system 1210 of thefirst imaging data.

When the position of a surgical target and the entry position of asurgical instrument, which have been input through the user interface150, are converted into the coordinates on the first coordinate system1210 as described above, in operation S1763, the controller may convertthe converted coordinates on the first coordinate system into thecoordinates on the fourth coordinate system of the stereotactic surgeryunit by using the second coordinate conversion relationship and thethird coordinate conversion relationship. For example, referring to FIG.12, the controller 140 may convert the coordinate of a surgical targetand the coordinate of the entry position of a surgical instrument on thefirst coordinate system 1210 of the first imaging data into thecoordinates on the fourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotacticsurgery unit 1 by using the second coordinate conversion relationshipand the third coordinate conversion relationship.

After the coordinate of a surgical target and the coordinate of theentry position of a surgical instrument on the first coordinate system1210 of the first imaging data are converted into the coordinates on thefourth coordinate system 1230 of the stereotactic surgery unit 1 asdescribed above, in operation S1764, the controller may determine theentry posture of a surgical instrument based on the coordinates on thefourth coordinate system that is converted. For example, the controller140 may determine the entry posture of a surgical instrument such thatthe surgical instrument moves from the entry position of the surgicalinstrument to the position of the surgical target.

Thereafter, in operation S1765, the controller may move the rotatingunit through the moving unit such that the coordinate corresponding tothe position of a surgical target on the fourth coordinate system arepositioned at the intersection point of two rotational axes of therotating unit. For example, referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, the controller140 may move the rotating unit 40 that is attached to the moving unit 10through the moving unit 10 such that the coordinate corresponding to theposition of a surgical target are positioned at the intersection pointof two rotational axes 43 and 45 of the rotating unit 40 on the fourthcoordinate system 1230 of stereotactic surgery unit 1.

In addition, the controller may rotate the surgical instrument throughthe rotating unit such that the surgical instrument has the determinedentry posture of the surgical instrument in operation S1766. Forexample, referring to FIG. 5, the controller 140 may rotate the surgicalinstrument 50 that is attached to the rotating unit 40 through therotating unit 40 such that the surgical instrument 50 has the determinedentry posture of the surgical instrument 50. As described above, thecontroller 140 of the present disclosure may independently control themoving unit 10 and the rotating unit 40, respectively.

Although the method has been described through specific embodiments, themethod may also be implemented as a computer-readable code in acomputer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recordingmedium includes all kinds of recording devices that store data that canbe read by a computer system. The examples of the computer-readablerecording medium may include ROM, RAM, CD-ROM, magnetic tapes, floppydisks, optical data storage devices, or the like, or may be implementedin the form of a carrier wave (for example, the transmission through theInternet). In addition, the computer-readable recording medium may bedistributed to computer systems that are connected through a network,and a computer-readable code may be stored and executed in a distributedmanner. In addition, functional programs, codes, and code segments forimplementing the embodiments may be easily inferred by the programmerswho are skilled in the art.

Although embodiments of disclosure have been described, it should benoted that there may be various modifications and changes withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure, which canbe understood by those skilled in the art. In addition, suchmodifications and changes should be considered to be within the scope ofthe claims appended herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A surgical robot system for stereotactic surgerycomprising: a stereotactic surgery robot configured to move and rotate asurgical instrument at 5 degrees of freedom or more; a controllerconfigured to receive first imaging data that represents athree-dimensional image of a surgical portion that includes a surgicaltarget; one or more markers configured to be attached to, or disposednear, the surgical portion; a camera configured to create second imagingdata that represents a three-dimensional external image of the surgicalportion; and a tracker configured to track a position and a posture ofthe camera and the markers, wherein the controller is configured to:create a first coordinate conversion relationship for converting acoordinate from a first coordinate system of the first imaging data intoa second coordinate system of the second imaging data; create a secondcoordinate conversion relationship for converting a coordinate from thefirst coordinate system into a third coordinate system of the one ormore markers and a third coordinate conversion relationship forconverting a coordinate from the third coordinate system into a fourthcoordinate system of the stereotactic surgery robot by using the firstcoordinate conversion relationship and the positions and the postures ofthe camera and the one or more markers; and control the stereotacticsurgery robot by using the second coordinate conversion relationship andthe third coordinate conversion relationship.
 2. The surgical robotsystem for stereotactic surgery according to claim 1, wherein thecontroller is configured to: visualize the first imaging data through auser interface; and convert a position of the surgical target and anentry position of the surgical instrument, which are input by a userthrough the user interface, into coordinates on the first coordinatesystem.
 3. The surgical robot system for stereotactic surgery accordingto claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to convert theconverted coordinates on the first coordinate system into coordinates onthe fourth coordinate system of the stereotactic surgery robot by usingthe second coordinate conversion relationship and the third coordinateconversion relationship.
 4. The surgical robot system for stereotacticsurgery according to claim 3, wherein the stereotactic surgery robotcomprises: a rotator configured to have the surgical instrument attachedthereto and configured to rotate the surgical instrument on at least oneof two rotational axes; and a mover configured to move the rotator in adirection of at least one of three axes, and wherein the controller isconfigured to: determine an entry posture of the surgical instrumentbased on the converted coordinates on the fourth coordinate system; movethe rotator through the mover such that a coordinate corresponding tothe position of the surgical target on the fourth coordinate system ispositioned at an intersectional point of the two rotational axes; androtate the surgical instrument through the rotator such that thesurgical instrument has the determined entry posture of the surgicalinstrument.
 5. The surgical robot system for stereotactic surgeryaccording to claim 4, wherein the mover comprises: a first directiondriver configured to move along a first axial direction; a seconddirection driver configured to move along a second axial direction whilebeing connected to the first direction driver; and a third directiondriver configured to move along a third axial direction while beingconnected to the second direction driver, wherein the rotator comprises:a first rotational driver configured to include one end that isconnected to the third direction driver and configured to rotate on afirst rotational axis; and a second rotational driver configured toinclude one end that is connected to the first direction driver andconfigured to rotate on a second rotational axis, and wherein thesurgical instrument is attached to the second rotational driver.
 6. Thesurgical robot system for stereotactic surgery according to claim 1,wherein the controller is configured to: create a fourth coordinateconversion relationship for converting a coordinate from the secondcoordinate system into a fifth coordinate system of the camera and afifth coordinate conversion relationship for converting a coordinatefrom the fifth coordinate system into the third coordinate system basedon the position and the posture of the camera; and create the secondcoordinate conversion relationship based on the first coordinateconversion relationship, the fourth coordinate conversion relationship,and the fifth coordinate conversion relationship.
 7. The surgical robotsystem for stereotactic surgery according to claim 1, wherein thecontroller is configured to create the first coordinate conversionrelationship through an image registration between the three-dimensionalimage represented by the first imaging data and the three-dimensionalimage represented by the second imaging data.
 8. The surgical robotsystem for stereotactic surgery according to claim 7, wherein thecontroller is configured to perform the image registration by using atleast some of the surgical portion that is commonly included in thethree-dimensional image represented by the first imaging data and thethree-dimensional image represented by the second imaging data.
 9. Thesurgical robot system for stereotactic surgery according to claim 1,wherein the controller is configured to: extract two-dimensional imagingdata that represents a two-dimensional sectional image of the surgicalportion from the first imaging data; and control the stereotacticsurgery robot by using a coordinate conversion relationship forconverting a coordinate of a sixth coordinate system of thetwo-dimensional imaging data into the first coordinate system, thesecond coordinate conversion relationship, and the third coordinateconversion relationship.
 10. The surgical robot system for stereotacticsurgery according to claim 1, wherein the camera is configured to createthe second imaging data by using a Phase Measuring Profilometry.
 11. Amethod for controlling a stereotactic surgery robot that moves androtates a surgical instrument at 5 degrees of freedom or more in asurgical robot system for stereotactic surgery, the method comprising:receiving, by a controller, first imaging data that represents athree-dimensional image of a surgical portion that includes a surgicaltarget; creating, by a camera, second imaging data that represents athree-dimensional external image of the surgical portion; tracking, by atracker, a position and a posture of the camera and one or more markersthat are attached to, or disposed near, the surgical portion; creating,by the controller, a first coordinate conversion relationship forconverting a coordinate from a first coordinate system of the firstimaging data into a second coordinate system of the second imaging data;creating, by the controller, a second coordinate conversion relationshipfor converting a coordinate from the first coordinate system into athird coordinate system of the one or more markers and a thirdcoordinate conversion relationship for converting a coordinate from thethird coordinate system into a fourth coordinate system of thestereotactic surgery robot by using the first coordinate conversionrelationship and the positions and the postures of the camera and theone or more markers; and controlling, by the controller, thestereotactic surgery robot by using the second coordinate conversionrelationship and the third coordinate conversion relationship.
 12. Themethod according to claim 11, further comprising: visualizing, by thecontroller, the first imaging data through a user interface; andconverting, by the controller, a position of the surgical target and anentry position of the surgical instrument, which are input by a userthrough the user interface, into coordinates on the first coordinatesystem.
 13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the controlling ofthe stereotactic surgery robot comprises converting, by the controller,the converted coordinates on the first coordinate system intocoordinates on the fourth coordinate system of the stereotactic surgeryrobot by using the second coordinate conversion relationship and thethird coordinate conversion relationship.
 14. The method according toclaim 12, wherein the stereotactic surgery robot comprises: a rotatorconfigured to have the surgical instrument attached thereto andconfigured to rotate the surgical instrument on at least one of tworotational axes; and a mover configured to move the rotator in adirection of at least one of three axes, and wherein the controlling ofthe stereotactic surgery robot comprises: determining, by thecontroller, an entry posture of the surgical instrument based on theconverted coordinates on the fourth coordinate system; moving, by thecontroller, the rotator through the mover such that a coordinatecorresponding to the position of the surgical target on the fourthcoordinate system is positioned at an intersectional point of the tworotational axes; and rotating, by the controller, the surgicalinstrument through the rotator such that the surgical instrument has thedetermined entry posture of the surgical instrument.
 15. The methodaccording to claim 11, wherein the creating, by the controller, thesecond coordinate conversion relationship comprises: creating, by thecontroller, a fourth coordinate conversion relationship for converting acoordinate from the second coordinate system into a fifth coordinatesystem of the camera and a fifth coordinate conversion relationship forconverting a coordinate from the fifth coordinate system into the thirdcoordinate system based on the position and the posture of the camera;and creating, by the controller, the second coordinate conversionrelationship based on the first coordinate conversion relationship, thefourth coordinate conversion relationship, and the fifth coordinateconversion relationship.
 16. The method according to claim 11, whereinthe creating, by the controller, the first coordinate conversionrelationship comprises creating, by the controller, the first coordinateconversion relationship through an image registration between thethree-dimensional image represented by the first imaging data and thethree-dimensional imaging data represented by the second imaging data.17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the controller isconfigured to perform the image registration by using at least some ofthe surgical portion that is commonly included in the three-dimensionalimage represented by the first imaging data and the three-dimensionalimage represented by the second imaging data.
 18. A non-transitorycomputer-readable recording medium that stores a program that includesinstructions for executing the operations of the method for controllingthe stereotactic surgery robot according to claim 11.